I guess I’d say the most bad-ass sounding certification that I’ve become aware of in the past year or so is probably the “trauma informed professional.”

From what I understand, a trauma informed professional is someone who has taken additional advanced training on top of whatever they do for their regular job, to support clients who have experienced or observed abuse or violence. They work in many fields, particularly medical and social services. The birth community is seeing certification programs pop up. One of them, Childbirth International, which certifies doulas, childbirth educators and breastfeeding counselors writes:

“This is the first course in the world that specifically covers trauma in relation to pregnancy, birth and parenting. With one-third of birthing individuals describing their births as traumatic, and one in ten parents beginning their journey with PTSD, trauma has a profound impact on the health and well being of families and communities. “

Kind of scary, but interesting isn’t it?

So I ask myself – why on earth are we so traumatized by our birth experiences that we are suffering from PTSD at a level that we need certified professionals to help us through that trauma? And what can we do on our own to avoid trauma during childbirth?

I guess the simplest answer is probably this:

Don’t mess with Mother Nature unless you really, REALLY need to.

So it is within that spirit that today’s blog is about arming yourself with some information that will help you to explain to your folks or anyone else that is pressuring you towards elective induction, that you won’t be customizing your baby’s birth date to suit plane tickets and vacation schedules.

Here are some things going on with our babies in the last couple of weeks of pregnancy (38-42 weeks) that don’t have anything to do with how “big” that lil chunk looks on ultrasound.

* Feel free to bookmark this post for easy reference to these legit excuses.

2. I’d love to help you out, but I’m super busy providing my baby with antibodies right now. These antibodies help your baby to fight infection in the first weeks of life.

3. We believe in raising our child to stick with his commitments. He’s in a 40 week strength training program and he’s **this close** to finishing! In these last couple of weeks, yourbaby gets stronger and develops the ability to maintain coordinated sucking and swallowing that they will need to nurse on their own after birth.

4. We’ve made a family decision to enjoy our baby outside of a warmer. Right now your baby is storing brown fat that will help her to maintain her own body temperature earth side. This will not make it harder to deliver your baby vaginally, and neither will the other types of fat on your baby – fat is squishy!

6. As laid back as we are –we’d still really like our baby to be able to breathe, like right away, after they are born. Did you know that fetal lungs are the very last organ to develop in utero?

If you are still having trouble deciding whether to electively induce your baby or not, I guess the question you could ask yourself is this:

“Is inducing my baby, who doesn’t appear to be ready to be born, AND risking a cascade of interventions that can lead to serious complications worth the tradeoff for making sure I accommodate the needs or desires of an adult person?”

If your answer is “yes,” then I’m sure you have a very good reason. We still love and support you regardless, mama, because life is already hard enough. Isn’t it?

If your answer is “no,” and your main concern is getting help after the baby is born until your family or friends can arrive to help – please know that this is exactly what Chicadee Mom is here for! Whether you are new to the area and don’t have family here, you haven’t found your mom tribe yet, or you just know you would like an extra set of hands for a period of time postpartum – check out our postpartum Mother’s Helpers !

We are now also offering Gift Certificates for three hours of Mother’s Helper assistance around the house and with your baby for only $55 while we are still ramping up our Chicadee Team!

And I have some great news: We have eight more slots open for FREE postpartum Mother’s Helpers service – contact us today if you are interested in helping with our pilot program, and we will give you a coupon code to use when you schedule!

Good luck out there ladies! I know the pressure to induce is tempting, especially at the end of pregnancy when we are just so over it! You’ve got this mama. Believe it or not, you might miss being pregnant when it’s all said and done.

If you have your own story of induction that you’d like to share for future blog posts, or questions about our services, please send us a note at thenest@chicadeemom.com.